The Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change International Program Office

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

Research on the complex interactions among human and natural components of the integrated Earth system have highlighted the need to understand both individual and collective perceptions and actions of human beings, because people operate both as individuals and as members of groups and institutions. Institutions figure prominently both as causes of large-scale environmental changes and through direct response and through establishment of the frameworks of responses to changing environmental conditions. This award provides renewed support for the International Project Office (IPO) of the Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC) project. IDGEC is one of four major core projects of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change Programme (IHDP), which is an international collaborative research program overseen by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), with cooperation from the International Social Science Council (ISSC). IDGEC seeks to understand the roles that institutions play in causing and confronting a range of environmental changes. IDGEC provides a framework for a series of collaborative research activities conducted by social scientists from a broad range of nations. That framework focuses on three major sets of issues: (1) Causality (How much of the variance in the condition of ecosystems is attributable to human institutions?); (2) Performance (Why are some institutional responses to environmental problems more successful than others?); and (3) Design (How should institutions be structured to maximize their performance?). The IDGEC-IPO plays a critical role in the success of this research project by catalyzing and coordinating a global network of scientists pursuing a common research agenda. Through continued support for the IPO, the infrastructure for the conduct of current and future international collaborations focusing on this important set of problems will be strengthened, and the U.S. will give a positive signal to other nations regarding the value and utility of major international collaborative efforts.